A significant proportion of queries that library users submit to online catalogs include names. Names are used for author searches and are frequently used for subject searches. Because online catalog queries frequently include names, various attempts to optimize search results have been made.
Name search optimization techniques used in search engines and similar applications often include use of a phonetic algorithm or comparable technique that indexes words by their pronunciations. “Soundex” is an example of a well-known phonetic algorithm for indexing names by their sound when pronounced in English. Names with the same pronunciation are encoded to the same string so that matching occurs despite minor differences in spelling. While the use of Soundex and other commonly used search optimization routines tend to produce satisfactory results for a portion of name queries, they generally fail to produce satisfactory results for the full range of categories queries (i.e., partial, errant, complete) presented. Therefore, there is a need for an improved system and method for optimizing results of names searches.